Security is top-of-mind for enterprise technology decision-makers when choosing to use cloud-based platforms for mobile app development, with more than 70% of them considering it a key characteristic.
A recent survey from moBack found that while more than half of enterprises developing mobile and web applications is the high cost associated with DevOps and infrastructure provisioning, security—along with scalability and ease of use—is a must-have for the majority.
“From our experience in building apps for enterprises across various industry segments, we find that the need for adopting mobile technologies is becoming a top priority in order to stay ahead of competition,” said Dev Gandhi, CEO of moBack. “The challenge most IT executives face is to achieve this in a cost-effective manner, while also maintaining control over business-critical information.”
The moBack survey indicated that more than 80 percent of the respondents, including large and small businesses, consider mobile app development very important and essential for their business, with 65 percent currently using cloud-based platforms such as backend-as-a-service (BaaS) or mobile BaaS to develop mobile apps. However, some of the challenges they face include sourcing the right technical skills, speed of delivery and flexibility for rapid app development.
Survey data also found that budgetary concerns are the key trigger in the decisions made around mobile development initiatives in the enterprise. Of those surveyed, 40 percent plan to develop approximately 10 applications over the next three years, and nearly one quarter are planning to develop between 26-50 mobile applications over this same time period.
Security is clearly central to all of this.
“There has been an emerging market consensus over the past two years that replicable, easy to access, stable and scalable cloud-based backend services for mobile applications can significantly raise developer productivity,” said Chris Marsh, principal analyst for Enterprise Mobile App Strategies at 451 Research. “This has been a potent message for businesses as they struggle to move from doing a lot of custom build on opportunistic apps here and there to what they really need, which is a fuller mobile app strategy underpinned by a common infrastructure and shared services.”